Structure of a Bachelor’s Thesis

Once the topic has been found for the bachelor’s thesis and agreed with the responsible professor, the starting signal is given for one of the most exciting times in the life of a student. But before they start writing, they should make a plan in advance so as not to get bogged down. Half the battle on the way to a successful bachelor’s thesis is the structure. This helps students to structure their work. In addition, it gives the supervisor a first impression of the quality of the present bachelor’s thesis. Therefore, it is important that the individual parts of an outline build on each other and present a logical whole. And just how that works is revealed here!

The bachelor’s thesis should be a successful undertaking. It can be demanding and it is an exciting venture. When things being as they are, many students will think have a variety of thoughts and ideas about how to go about things, sometimes creating a lot of confusion. Of course, it’s not a bad thing at all to think through a wide range of ideas and approaches. What matters, however, is really organising and structuring them properly. In order to be successful, students should ask themselves two questions: What is the goal of the bachelor’s thesis and how can it be achieved? To do this, students need a theme as well as a research question and a related working hypothesis touching on the topic that they confirm or revise during the bachelor’s thesis.

Introduction and hypothesis of the bachelor’s thesis

Once the topic, the research question and the working hypothesis have been determined, students can set out and start writing. What is important for the selected topic? How can others be introduced to this process? Are there any important terms and positions on this topic? Why is the research question relevant to this topic and how can it be addressed? These are questions that students should have in mind when they are thinking about developing their bachelor’s thesis. These considerations and many more are the prerequisites for creating a foundation for working out an outline. This in turn has another benefit. The structure not only functions as a table of contents, but also as a kind of working instruction. It helps students to structure their bachelor’s thesis in a meaningful way and to organise their time. Students can use the outline to set up a schedule for editing specific chapters and sections, and to follow them step-by-step.

In order to successfully develop a structure, the first path for aspiring bachelor’s graduates must be in the library. For without a detailed and well-founded literature research, it is impossible to create a successful structure. First of all, students have to familiarise themselves with the topic, gather facts, learn the research approaches and weigh what is relevant for their bachelor’s thesis. Only when students are familiar with the topic and the current state of research, they can set up a research question and a working hypothesis and think about how they want to work on it. These considerations then in turn flow into the structure of the outline.

Classically, an outline includes an introduction to the bachelor’s thesis, a central body and a conclusion. In order to fill these three parts with content, students have to work off their chosen topic and the research question as well as the working hypothesis, bit by bit. In the best of cases, a student will develop the title of the bachelor’s thesis from the research question. In this way, he or she will always keep it in mind and can use it to guide them from chapter to chapter towards a possible answer. But no need to worry, students needn’t know the answer to their research question in advance. And they needn’t know if they will confirm or revise the working hypothesis they decide to use. For determining the answer to a hypothesis occurs piece by piece in the course of the work, and is simply part of the academic process. Students certainly won’t do themselves a favour by committing themselves to a set answer beforehand.

Comprehensibility and stringency of the bachelor’s thesis

A wonderful trick in developing a bachelor’s thesis is to imagine telling a story and wondering how it can be narrated so that others can follow along. The story begins with the introduction. In it, the topic and the question are presented. In addition, in the introduction it is extremly important to justify what significance the topic and the question has and how it can be classified in the current state of research. Furthermore, it provides an outlook on how the student intends to work on the research question in the main part. This in turn is dedicated to the concrete examination of the subject using relevant literature and developed from different chapters. The results and lessons learned in the main body are the subject of the conclusion, which answers the research question and revises or confirms the working hypothesis.

All this being said, the work still isn’t over at that. A cover sheet, a bibliography, an appendix and the declaration that the present work was written independently are all parts of a successful structure. If you have difficulty creating an outline, you should consult a professional and hire a ghostwriter.